BALLARINI 75000-891 Professionale 3000 Carbon Steel Fry Pan, Stainless Steel

One thing you do need to be aware of with this pan, is that on the Ballarini website this exact pan, and the 9.5" version of it, are described as 'aluminized steel' - I've researched what this means, and have found the following: "Aluminized steel is steel that has been hot-dip coated on both sides with aluminium-silicon alloy". I am trying to find out from Ballarini and it's parent company, Zwilling, whether the pans supplied to Amazon are 'aluminized steel', as this isn't mentioned in the Amazon description, and I don't want to be preparing food on an aluminum surface.When/if I receive clarification from the company, I shall update this review accordingly.Update 02.02.22 - I have now received the following response from Zwilling J. A. Henckels, the parent company of Ballarini, they have stated the following:"As I understand this is a carbon steel pan that is aluminised – meaning coated in aluminium.Aluminised steel pans are coated with an aluminium -silicone alloy and are dipped in mouton metal and it adheres like a coating of paint. This is mostly to prevent rust, as carbon steel has no aluminium content it can be prone to rusting."

I believe these pans are great but I bought one from amazon.co.uk not knowing that it would be sent by a third party seller in the U.S. When it arrived it was faulty. The handle was not welded to the pan properly - it was barely attached and at the wrong angle. Somewhere along the way quality control should have noticed this.I then had to return it to Indianapolis to get a refund including having to sort out multiple customs documents. This means that the pan I bought - having been manufactured in Italy - had crossed the Atlantic three times before it ended up being thrown away unused. The environmental cost of this is depressing to say the least. This should not have happened.

This carbon steel pan is professional quality and very sturdy. For the price range it is absolutely worth the cost. Welding is secure, and the handle is long enough that it does not get hot at all; no oven mit or silicon handle required.If you are not familiar with carbon steel, you need to treat it similar to cast iron: never use soap or abrasives. In time, it will create its own non-stick surface that will last several lifetimes if cared for properly. The process is smokey and time consuming, but well worth it in my opinion.While (As of these pictures) I'm not done seasoning it, it's certainly getting there. I started off by thoroughly washing the pan with dish soap and water (I know, counter intuitive to what I said before, but bare with me, you need to remove the factory oils that prevent it from rusting). Next, take a paper towel or dish rag and apply a thin layer of neutral, high heat oil such as canola, vegetable, or peanut. Ghee may work but I have not personally tried it for the initial process. Make sure you cover the entire surface, handle and all as it will be prone to rust without the treatment. Put it in the oven at 400-450F (200-230C), for 30-45min. Let it come to room temp, put another thin layer of high heat oil and do it again. Then again. After that, I recommend using the stove top. Crank up the heat to medium and apply a thin layer of oil only to the inside of the pan until it smokes. Let it smoke for a while, then wipe more oil around the inside until it smokes again. Keep repeating for a bit, then let it come to room temp. Do this a few more times until it's glossy. The more you use the pan, the darker and more non-stick it will become. Never buy another 'non-stick' pan again.Bonus: works on all stovetops including induction.This pan is my go-to for steaks and proteins. Gets a good crisp on the outside and I can put the whole thing into the oven the continue cooking. I also use it to make millions of grilled cheeses for my son. Everyone wins.

I only read the reviews about it possibly being aluminized after I've already been using it for several years so I started looking for information about this pan on the manufacturer website.So the 3000 series includes several pans and baking sheets/traysThis pan shares the same number as the entire series and is called "3000". Under the information for the series they list "Iron, blue steel and aluminized steel" as materials.the pans are: 3000, 3008, 3009 and all are made from "iron"baking sheets and pizza trays: 3044, 3046, 3054 are made from "blue steel" I am guessing not the zoolander kindbaking sheets and pizza trays: 3045, 3047, 3055 are made from "ALUMINIZED STEEL"I found this info using wayback machine since this information doesn't seem to be available on their new parent zwilling site. It also appears to have been translated from either German or Italian, so not sure why they describe it as Iron and not Carbon Steel.Overall I am happy with the pan, the handle is long and doesn't get hot, it's deeper than other carbon steel pans, and no rivets on the inside. Surface area is not that big so I would go for the 11" pan.

After seasoning pan works very well and feels sturdy. However the pan by the first use has bulged in the center of the pan a little. If there's ways to prevent this in the future let me know but will probably hit it and try to correct it since it wabbles on my glass top.

First of all, you must have patience. It takes a bit of time and effort to get a carbon steel pan to be nonstick, but I believe it will be so worth it to move away from traditional nonstick pans that only last a few months or that peel and flake who knows what into your food.My Ballarini pan came wrapped in a plastic bag, and covered with oil to nicely protect it from rust during shipment. There was only a cardboard tag attached with no instructions on seasoning, other than to just wash all the oil from shipment away with soapy water, rinse, dry, and then put on a light coat of oil to protect. I knew from past research in order to be nonstick it had to be seasoned, so I used the oil, salt, potato skin method (instructions readily available online). Messy to be sure, and I did it twice as recommended, but seemed quite effective. (Just an FYI… when you use this method, you are stirring the ingredients constantly and moving them all around and up the sides of the pan to season everything uniformly. I don’t recommend using silicone utensils for this. I ruined my best spatula because it got too hot. The second time I used wood. Much better!)The first thing I cooked was bacon and fried eggs. These turned out great with a very minimum of sticking. This morning I cooked scrambled eggs. These stuck just a bit more, but nothing bad and adding a bit of hot water and using a nylon sponge easily removed every trace. (It is recommended to never use soap on carbon steel as soap can remove the seasoning.) After cleaning, you dry thoroughly and then rub the entire pan with a small amount of oil before storing.This pan is a nice heavy weight. It seemed to distribute the heat uniformly and held the heat well. It worked great on my gas range and seasoned beautifully. Carbon steel is said to become more nonstick the more you use it (as long as you care for it properly) so I’m excited about getting to the point of total nonstick with a pan that should last a lifetime.Be aware that carbon steel pans are not what I would call beautiful (my husband said it looked 100 years old after the first day, lol), but I don’t care. I just wanted a nonstick pan without all the chemicals that would perform well and last for many years.I will be using this on a daily basis so if anything changes I will update this review.

So I’ve tried a number of carbon steel pans. This one pretty much by far is the best one ever. Weight of the product (I have the 11 inch) is 3.2lbs (I weighed it). Handle is hefty and very sturdy without being too intrusive. Steel quality is also very good, case in point is the seasoning is so good on this pan and things pretty much don’t stick from the start, pretty rare. Bottom diameter is 8 inch which is plenty. Before i tried a company who I thought was promising (Sardel) and first of all that pan was riveted, which is not a problem except the metal which makes up the handle is much softer so after awhile it keeps coming loose and you have to hammer it. No such issue with this pan though compared to Sardel because first and foremost the quality of ALL of the components are great and secondly the handle is welded so no rivets at all. Great work to the company who made this pan!